Officials

Ottawa, ON (Sports Network) - Alex Kovalev, mired in a 16-game goal-less drought, notched his first hat trick with the Senators and scored the game- winning tally to lead Ottawa past Carolina, 4-2.

Kovalev -- who now has 401 career goals -- recorded his first three-goal game since January 25, 2003 while with the Penguins, and Jason Spezza also scored for the Senators, who have won six of seven at home. It was Kovalev's 11th career hat trick.

Brian Elliot made 23 saves -- including 12 in the third -- to notch the victory.

"I thought for the first 40 minutes we played very well," said Ottawa coach Cory Clouston. "We didn't give up many opportunities and had eight or nine good scoring chances. Fortunately, our power play, which we criticized recently, scored twice tonight."

Ray Whitney accounted for both Carolina goals, as the Hurricanes lost their third straight and eighth in 10 games. Manny Legace allowed three goals on 38 shots in defeat.

Late in the third, the Sens went in front on the power play. Two Ottawa players were set up in front of the net as screens, and Kovalev fired a shot from the left point that deflected off a Carolina defender's skate and into the net with three minutes remaining.

With Legace pulled in the final moments, Kovalev grabbed a loose puck on the left boards and scored an empty-net tally with 29 seconds left to complete the hat trick and seal the win.

Ottawa notched the lone goal of the first period. Nick Foligno pushed a shot from the left circle that appeared to be partially deflected, causing the puck to inch slowly toward the crease. Kovalev was there to pick it up before an out-of-position Legace and shoved it into the net at 7:48.

Elliot needed to stop only five Carolina shots to keep the Hurricanes off the board in the opening frame.

Whitney tied the game for Carolina just 21 seconds into the second period on the power play, firing a slapshot from the slot that beat Elliot to the lower right corner of the net.

The Sens, though, went back in front with the man-advantage. Chris Phillips had the puck behind the net and fired it in front, and the disc bounced fortuitously off Spezza and into the net with 9:54 remaining in the second.

The Hurricanes showed their resilience again and tied the game. Eric Staal scooped up a loose puck near the Ottawa blue line and fired in a shot from a wide angle. The disc bounced out to Whitney, who beat Elliot from the left circle at 17:05.

Carolina was the aggressor toward the end of the third period and almost put in the go-ahead tally. The puck squirted past Elliot on a shot with about four minutes to play, but Spezza kept it from crossing the goal-line.

Hurricanes defenseman Joni Pitkanen was then called for a penalty with 3:43 left in the game, setting up Ottawa's game-winning score.